Horizon of Ash
by Silius1
Summary: After spending six months in Theldesia following the Apocalypse, six Elder Tale players decided to take matters into their own hands to find a way back to their world but failed to understand the consequences of their actions as they found themselves stranded in a different world outright. Instead of the largely safe Theldesia, they are cast into a far more dangerous world: Grimgar
1. Theldesia

A/N: The concept for this story was inspired by one of my readers: PEJP BengtZone V2 to the point where this entry wouldn't exist if he/she didn't pitch an idea I found myself fascinated in while I had made a decision to put my other stories on temporary hold since I have just recently posted a chapter of Divinity. After posting long chapters, I like to take brief breaks.

While I know that this chapter is rather short by my usual standards, I wanted to keep this prologue brief since their time in Elder Tale in this story is going to be brief. The bulk of my creative prowess will be utilized in every other chapter of this story.

* * *

Theldesia Standard Time: [9:00] December 12th, 2018

Location: [Yamato Server - Streganna Keep]

After spending six months stranded in the MMO: Elder Tale because of an event known only as the Apocalypse, a group of six long-time foreign players from three different servers: Russian, West European, and Korean quickly found themselves trapped in the Japanese server after using fairy rings and although they did their utmost to hide the negative emotions, they finally had enough, especially with their fairly frequent skirmishes with the native Japanese guild: Plant Hwayden and decided to take matters into their hands as they ventured to the nearest fairy ring, Jotam discovering that, this particular ring at least, seemed to absorb magic since he was with Irina on a small dungeon run in the nearby Crystal Catacombs and when they were returning to their base, Irina attempted to heal Jotam since he took some hits but the mana expended was absorbed into the ring, with opinions going both ways on the matter

"This really a good idea Jotam? We're messing with things that we ought to be leaving alone. I get we're all unhappy being stuck here, but this seems dangerous, trying to supercharge a fairy ring with magic and all." Although she was appointed the leader of this six-man group, Aria rarely chose to pull rank since this wasn't her guild she was working with, aside from her close friend and fellow guild member among her girl-only guild Dream Legion: Lucia, having recruited her when she was a new player who didn't have any hint of knowledge regarding the game but Aria took the girl in regardless and mentored her to such an extent that she had reached the level cap of 90 in a single year.

"Well you haven't given us any sort of plan Aria. I am freaking sick of living in this damn world! I miss my family and I am not going to stand aside when this potential course of action could work in our favor. Think about it, Fairy Rings were designed to teleport people according to the lunar timechart back when this was a game. If we supercharge this ring with magic, we might be able to create a way back home. Cheol, Lucia, Irina, do it." Saying that Jotam was unhappy about the situation would be an understatement since he made no secret of it all, especially knowing that they all shared in it to some extent, but hid it to the best of their own abilities.

Although the Taoshi, Exorcist, and Cleric carried apprehension at this course of action, although knowing that they've been able to do things they'd never be able to do in an MMORPG, they shared Aria's unease about this level of 'freedom' of activity within the game world, but they all quietly obliged as they formed a triangle formation around the fairy ring, Cheol casting the Enchanter's ultimate trump card spell in Infinity Force to temporarily remove all of their ability cooldown periods and with all of the time each one of them has spent in this game, training their reflexes alongside their knowledge of each classes' skill enough that they each know the respective combinations, each one of them was able to unleash seven spells which were all immediately negated and absorbed all of the expended mana. After Cheol's Infinity Force had run its course, the fairy ring began to glow a bright white as six small spears of light pierced through them all and in the corner of their eyes, they rapidly saw both their HP and MP being drained

"Ugh...this is beyond...painful. Not even falling from my old school rock climbing hurt this much!" Lucia had to fight the urge to scream from the pain she is feeling at the current moment.

"It feels like...my soul is being torn asunder." Befitting his largely stoic nature, Ivan kept his exchange brief, slowly slumping to his knees alongside the others, seeing himself losing nearly one thousand HP and MP every ten seconds, suspecting the others are suffering the same fate as they too are in similar stances to him, from the heavily armored guardian: Jotam to the lightly armored swashbuckler: Aria and Exorcist: Lucia and the robe wearing cleric and taoshi Irina and Cheol.

"Well shit. While we did set up shop in Nakasu when we arrived in Yamato six months ago, we haven't been in that city once since Plant Hwayden took over. Well, that Nakasu Defense Front tried recruiting us to help fight off Hwayden, but they've been getting decimated battle by battle. Looks like we'll have no choice but to fight."

"We've been prepared for that possibility a long time now Cheol. Remember that we've been sabotaging Hwayden supply routes and bases from the shadows for the last four months. After that...this is nothing." Despite the pain coursing through her body, Irina carried enough mental fortitude to flash a confident smile towards the elven taoshi.

"Irina has a point...let those bastards come fight us! I dare them!"

* * *

Cheol could only give a weak smile of acknowledgement at his friend's words as he sees his comrades explode into pixels one by one, himself being the third to die followed by Ivanov, Aria, and Jotam since the trio are a Cossack (Samurai), Swashbuckler, and Guardian respectively which gives them more HP than Lucia, Irina, and himself as an Exorcist (Kannagi), Cleric, and Taoshi (Enchanter). However, following their deaths after working with the fairy ring; what Cheol and the others bore witness to after the empty expanse death in Elder Tale always presents differed greatly as, instead of the interior of the ornately decorated and built Nakasu Cathedral, they continued to see pure darkness, to such a level that they cannot see each other even though their voices could be heard around them

"Ivan? Cheol? Irina? Aria?! Are you guys around?! I can't see anything!" Despite her history as a powerful player, Lucia was still the youngest among the group at age 14, everyone else being adults, and occasionally finds herself in situations that cracks her yet-to-be developed sense of mental stability.

"You don't need to shout Lucia. I can you hear you just fine. But yeah...where are we? We ought to be in the cathedral by now." Having elected herself in a big sister role early on when the six players found themselves stuck in Yamato, Irina knew that it'd be better for them to remain close then divide since they are all stranded fish in a foreign tank.

"Yeah, this is messed up. We ought to be back in Nakasu. Er...could we have possibly have screwed up bad when messing with that Fairy Ring...What if Hwayden bought out the cathedral and prevented us from respawning?! Are we...Are we incapable of coming back to life?!"

"Take it easy Aria. Let's just...figure out what the heck is going on. We're in some dark void blinding our sight to such an extent that we can't see each other but-" Cheol tried keeping the mood light and relaxed, but he stopped halfway as he himself saw a faint light glow in the distance "Could that be a way back to Theldesia over there? That light over in the distance."

"Possibly. Let's go." Ivan once again spoke little as the sounds of his footsteps could be heard, quickly followed by the others following after him.

As the group walk through the pitch black corridor toward the light which is ever-growing as they approach, that said light slightly began to illuminate their bodies, but not enough to show their undying appearances and when each member passed through the light, they quickly found themselves outside a door on what seems to be a twenty foot tower, finding their appearances to be slightly altered versions of their game avatars and the moment they crossed through the light, they oddly felt much of their memory seemingly 'erased' as the first memories they can now recall were of the Apocalypse instead of their time on Earth, waking up in Theldesia though the sound of the door they crossed through slamming shut did little to alleviate their unease and after Aria attempted to see if she could activate the menu that was available to them in Elder Tale, she was met with nothing, only making herself look like a fool wailing her arms for no discernable reason

"That's not good. Looks like we're not in Kansas anymore...wait, what the heck does that mean?"

* * *

A/N: For a basic idea on what each of these characters look like, refer to my profile page where I have posted them (Full credit goes to the creators/uploaders.)


	2. Update

Okay guys, based on recent comments in both reviews and PMs, I've decided to consider this story revived. However, currently I am still treating this story as a bit of lower priority since I'm focusing on other projects outside fanfiction here. In case you guys want to know what I am going to be focusing on this year, let me elaborate here and now. But first, the stuff I canceled.

Because of the complicated nature over how long it was becoming I put an end to my long-running Code series which comprised of Aincrad, Alfheim, Ragnarok. Neptunia, Divinity, and the finale in Hunter. There were several stories I had wanted to include in the series but ultimately cut. Among these are Code: Reclamation, which would've been an immediate sequel to Divinity. This would've been an extremely dark story which would include a massive number of deaths among the Parthenian Knights as they stalled for time for Planeptune, Lastation, Lowee, Leanbox, and Arcadia. While they had a fairly sizeable number at 6 million knights at the time of Neptunia and Divinity, they cut themselves into thirds, splitting themselves in the Hyper Dimension, Zero Dimension, and Heart Dimension, to ensure survival of the Parthenians while all but ironically severing contact with each other, and during Reclamation, they lost around 1,820,000 knights within five years time, leaving only 180,000 knights by the time Arcadia perfected their military technology. I would've started it on an extremely bleak note with Grand Master Medea Lisalon visiting a recent battlefield alongside 2 members of Obsidian Squad: Lilica and Ginham, between 428,500 Parthenian Knights killed in action and four Behemoth class monsters, three of which escaped, but wounded. Because of it, the Parthenians withdrew but Arcadia was ready to take up the mantle, if barely.

Code: Erinn was due to be set in the MMORPG Mabinogi which would've fleshed out my Milletian warriors and explain their importance in the fight against the Fomorians and the chosen cast among my team: Kazuto, Miyo, Izumi, and later Mamoru and newcomer Erica Kurata who were in Xillia.

Code: Xillia set in Tales of Xillia and Xillia 2 with Mamoru as a sole agent

Code: Flonyard set in Dog Days with Sylvia and Kana taking the reins

Code: Horizon due to be in Log Horizon with Haruka, Katsuo, and Yuuki Konno

An unnamed project with Karen, Lilica, Celina, and Caelus taking place in Tales of Zestiria and Berseria which would fully explain the details behind Karen's fall to Malevolence

And lastly, I would have invested in Code: Underworld, set during the Underworld arc in SAO. This one would be the absolute last entry for the Senryaku generation and star my original group of characters: Karen, Katsuo, Sylvia, Kana, Hikaru, and Haruka, though many others would have some involvement as cameos. Despite that, even though the story would have starred these six, Miyo would have her importance as one of the scientists/engineers of the Ocean Turtle, later held against her will when Karen and the others become trapped in Underworld as knowledge of her being an alien was somehow leaked, this threat coming from Kikuoka. Within Underworld itself, Karen was set to have been taken by Quinella and converted into an Integrity Knight because of her being an 'abnormality' because of her Hard Drive Divinity, Katsuo, Sylvia, and Kana would be living in Rulid Village, working as a guard, nun, and shopkeeper apprentice respectively before being transferred to Zekkaria when Hikaru, an inhabitant of the Dark Territory, was discovered in the area, caught by Karen herself through a patrol alongside Kazuto, Alice, and Eugene since they were all in contact with him. After undergoing the process, Karen began having nightmares every night which were actually messages sent in discreetly through Karen's cybernetics, urging her to remember herself.

* * *

Wow. That's a lot of text here, heh. Well, other than my Code series, I canceled Ark Crusade since, like I said on it, its reception was horrendous and something I'm not sure is salvageable with the new policy I have to enact with my works now. The same goes with Reign of Shaowei, but there was another issue burdening it as well. In addition to a bit of poor reception, I unfortunately did not exactly think that story through. Guess that happens to on-the-spur moment stories like that. However, I like details about it that may be resurfacing in future works, namely the races I conveyed in the story.

As to what I have been doing in the last couple of weeks, aside from me working a LOT because of my retail job in the holidays, I've actually been invited to join a group of writers and artists centered around fellow fanfic writer: Starknight 'Renegade, who invited me since he apparently liked my Sunrider story, haha. I am not exactly comfortable revealing which pieces of work I am working with him (and others) at this time, but I've been dedicated on helping these guys out to the best of my ability (which has been HORRIBLE so far since I simply lacked the time since Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas were on the warpath when I was invited by Starknight.)

Now, the time has come for me to finally explain Horizon of Ash's status among the stories. 'Bout time I say since I've been focusing on my other stories so far. Thanks to some recent comments, I've decided to get this puppy moving again. Now, be aware that I am changing the initial plan I had set for this story. I initially planned on this being a three to five chapter story where Ivan, Cheol, Lucia, Aria, Jotam, and Irina simply die by the end. It's not going to be so clear-cut anymore since, much like Hajime Isayama's Attack on Titan, I have a different fate planned for my characters since I have some traction going. Trust me, you guys are going to be surprised. As to when I'm going to get this new chapter out...erm...I'm not going to set a deadline right now since I have two other stories I'm currently working on.

Finally, I only have a few more stories I plan on submitting to this site, not counting chapters here for Horizon of Ash. I have no definite idea when I am going to release one of these stories, but I will reveal it here. It will be a fanfiction of the anime: Show By Rock starring another OC of my own making: Dillon 'Vermillion' Vergil. Look forward to when I'm able to get that story going. The others...well, I'm not showing all my cards now here ^^. If you want to help speed up the process of when I'm able to get content released, consider helping me make this a job over on Pa treon dot com/ harukaerizawa. If you are unable to support, that is perfectly fine. The benefit I seek for this is speeding up the rate at which I am able to release chapters. I would never dream of restricting content behind paywalls. The only sort of 'restriction' Patrons would receive would be early access.


	3. Fate's Lamentation

Looking amongst each other, noticing each member of the group being draped in bulky white cloaks and thin shoes, with little else differentiating themselves aside from their unique physical appearances resembling their Elder Tale avatars, as they quickly separated themselves. Far to the left of the group stood Aria, having pink hair, spiced up with dull yellow highlights at the lower tips which is tied into small pigtails, and turquoise green eyes. Joining her is Lucia whose eyes and hair closely matched Aria's right down to the curled style, though where Aria chose a hue closer to red, Lucia went in the direction of white. Standing by herself, with her arms crossed in concern, leaning against the building itself is Irina, her long silver ponytails blowing in the wind and a sad frown on her face. And against the railing looking out onto the landscape the men in the group: Jotam, Cheol, and Ivan stood silently, looking in different directions to ascertain information of their surroundings. Jotam's bluish black hair flowing down to his neck and sharp eyes; Ivan's short onyx black hair and eyes making him look similar to Jotam in terms of looks if he decided to trim it down though the way the two express themselves couldn't be any more different as Ivan has been called a mime even though he does talk, on occasion, while Jotam is rather fiery in how he talks. And lastly, people have genuinely been confused regarding Cheol's gender since, while it is male, his appearance and choice of attire has made people call him a girl since he has silver hair, much like Irina, flowing down to his lower back and back in Elder Tale he tended to wear clothes resembling dresses and had a Phantasmal-class tiara which gave him a 40% increase to his MP.

"So...where are we Cheol? Ivan? Jotam?"

"Beats me Iri. Aria couldn't open a menu so this isn't Elder Tale. That's for sure."

"Heh, it's funny you still look like a chick Cheol. Whether it's in that game or in a real world like this."

"Oh get off my fu-" Cheol immediately stopped speaking when he remembered that Lucia was still around, since they all consider her a child at 14 when the second youngest among them: Irina is 18 " _Freaking_ back Jotam. I care for aesthetics and women tend to get the best treatment in terms of designs."

' _Says the transvestite._ ' Aria sneered under her breath with a proud smirk, having been fond of teasing Cheol in this way ever since they met, much to his own chagrin most of the time.

"I heard that Aria!" Cheol was not happy about this particular insult tossed his way because of the severity of her words. Where most of the insults have been akin to calling him foolish, this one was a direct attack on him as a person instead of his actions. Actions could be changed at a drop of a hat but character is not something so easily mutable.

"Enough. We should get moving. There is a village in the distance and the day is nearly over. It would be ideal to get sleep for tomorrow."

"Heh, so sorry Cheol." Aria simply childishly stuck her tongue before her expression turned uncharacteristically grim "Ivan has a point though. We lack perspective on this world and we have no idea of how we will be supporting ourselves. Back in Theldesia, we were practically immortal demigods. But here...Here I feel like that's not the case."

"We will need to secure shelter and a source of food as soon as possible. A very close second are clothes and potentially weapons if this is not a peaceful world."

"Jotam's right. Among us, only Jotam and Ivan have experience with hand to hand combat. Not exactly good odds in our favor."

"Jotam, before we go, we need to decide on a leader. We've been doing things round-robin between you, me, Cheol, and Ivan. But I think we should have a single leader making our decisions."

"I guess you have a point there Aria. Elder Tale was familiar territory and we were powerful enough to handle anything in our way. Here...Here we are alone. Our power has been extinguished, our equipment stolen. All we truly have in this world are us six. Now more than ever, we need to stay together. In Theldesia we could've theoretically gotten by if we had separated. That luxury won't exactly be easy here."

"Well said Cheol. Regardless, I am not interested in acting as sole leader. You know I operate as a hands-off sort of leader. I structured Twilight Force to operate without me in any way."

"Oh yeah, you mentioned that. Sorry 'bout that. So it's between me, Cheol, and Jotam."

"As our numbers are fairly small, we should avoid voting. Let's simply discuss our own pros and cons. Aria; you're charismatic and kind. Dream Legion was utterly devoted to you because of your kindness and despite them being such an utter mix match of people. Keeping them unified must have been a challenge. But at the same time, you're afraid of pushing people after giving such simple _requests_." Aria simply nodded in agreement, knowing she preferred giving people space and freedom to make their own choices and mistakes. She believed it would help them grow. While she did take an active role in mentoring Lucia during her tenure, she still exercised this mindset toward the girl "Cheol, you're a damn good administrator and pretty good with tactics. Even though I was the boss, Ethereal Warden wouldn't have been the same if you hadn't joined. But you prefer working in the background." Cheol simply chuckled and like Aria, nodded since his skillset was organized in that way "As for myself-"

"Erm...if I could interrupt-" Lucia had been keeping to herself, but felt the need to talk here and now, feeling pressure weighing her down from the stares "I don't think trying to appoint a single leader is good considering our background. We ought to be focusing more on our abilities. We each bring something to this team after all."

"Girlie there probably has a point there don'tcha know?"

* * *

After hearing an unfamiliar girly voice ring out, they all turn toward the source and find it to be a girl who appears similar in age to them all with bright ruby pink hair flowing down to her lower back, with small pigtails tied with red snowflake shaped accessories, and blue eyes wearing white and blue priest garb. Amidst the rather drab attire, what caught their eye were the triangular ears common to that of elves

"An elf?"

"Who the hell are you?"

"Well you're certainly a bundle of joy ain't ya." ' _Rude little prick. At least he ain't a racist as far as I know. I probably would've just killed him if he were._ ' "You can call me Altaria. I live in a small house near this tower here. Honestly, I was about to rest for the night but I felt a disturbance in the air so I came to investigate. So I'm guessing you came through the door there?"

"Erm, I guess so. What is this place?"

"We tend to call this place Grimgar. But if you're talking about the town over yonder, that's called Alterna."

"Alterna huh. What is it like living in the village?"

"As far as I know, life by itself is rather peaceful. Not exactly an easy life granted, but peaceful as long as you're able to earn enough money. Of course, there are pretty dangerous monsters scattered about. Well, since I gave my name so you do the same."

"I'm Aria, pleased to meet you."

"I'm Lucia."

"Jotam."

"Ivan."

"My name is Irina. I'm pleased to meet a friendly face."

"Name's Cheol. Nice to meet a fellow-well, technically ex-fellow elf? How do I put it? I used to be an elf but I was changed back to a human." As Cheol was speaking, Altaria simply stared at him with her eyes half closed as if he were being considered an utter fool to her, but returned to her previous expression

"Know what, this world is strange enough that I'm willing to at least suspend my disbelief on this one. Anyway, I'm guessing you folks have no place to go."

"Yep. We don't have anything but the clothes on our back right now."

"Well it'd be cruel of me to turn away the helpless in their time of need. Tell you what Lucy, all of you. You six would be refused at any inn since you don't have any money to your name. So how about you stay with me for a night and depart to Alterna tomorrow? It surely would be preferable to staying out in the dark. Honestly, it's going to rain in a few hours."

"If what you say is true Altaria, I think refusing you would be a bad idea."

"Jotam's right. Let's take what few mercies we have. Please lead the way Miss Altaria."

"Oh Miss sounds far too formal. Just call me Altaria, or Tiara if you want to give me a nickname. Normally I'd pick Aria but...well. Anyway, follow me."

Following this, she turned her back to the group and began walking away, quickly followed by the group since they are eager to attain some safety. Despite that, they all do feel some apprehension trusting a random stranger who could very well be offering false niceties to lower their guard and lure them into an ambush but nonetheless, they are confident in the fact that they outnumber this woman 6 to 1 and they're all heavily experienced in combat so they know they can handle anything thrown at them, even magic since they could easily scatter their formation to repulse it. When against so many opponents at once, even master magic users would have difficulty taking them on.

"Yeah, I don't want people getting confused when addressing either me or you."

"Duh. I want to avoid that if possible. So tell me, you all remember anything before entering this world?"

"You talk as if this is a common occurrence here in Grimgar Altaria."

"I wouldn't say common Tam, but it happens here and there. You could describe this tower as a bit of a genius loci that just _loves_ messing with people in the cruelest manner. H-Hey! You didn't answer my question!"

"Geez, bossy much? Anyway-" Cheol chuckled as he racked his mind, quickly finding that his first memories are from six months ago: the day of the Apocalypse that wracked Theldesia and transported the Adventurers there and anything before it is blurred; quickly leaning toward Irina ' _Hey Iri, can you remember anything from before we met? I can remember the Apocalypse stranding us in Yamato, but anything before it is...it's just gone. There has to be more, a place we came from before it._ '

' _Now that you mention it Cheol, I don't. I can't remember anything before that moment either. It's possible the others are in the same boat. Well, I know Ivan's my guild leader and all, but anything further is gone. This is freaky. Not counting today, we only have six month's worth of memory. I know that much since we've talked about it in Theldesia._ '

' _Well, let's not try to press the issue too much Iri. We shouldn't make Aria and the others worry over something we have zero power over._ '

' _You're right. It's disheartening that there's memory we're lacking but I suppose we have to live with it. Let's simply focus on the present and secure a means of survival in this strange world. By the way, you think we can trust this chick?_ '

' _That honestly is up in the air Iri. I don't exactly have complete trust in her her. Yet. But what can we do with all options stripped of us? We do need to give some trust to earn some._ '

"To answer your question Altaria, we do remember our previous world. Unfortunately, our memory is more fragmented than I'd like to admit. Anything beyond six months ago is absent."

"I see."

* * *

Putting further conversation aside, they left the tower and began walking across the grasslands as the wind began blowing, rustling their cloaks which are quickly beginning to impede their movements

"Er, I don't want to sound the perv but do you guys feel a draft?"

As soon as Cheol brought this forward, the team began looking within their clothes; Lucia and Irina clearly fighting the urge to scream based on how white their skin was becoming, Jotam, Ivan, and Aria displayed expressions of unease.

"Oh dear. It looks like I'm going to have to get you all some clothes. Luckily, I have plenty of spares from some of my old traveling companions who are no longer with us. I will have to adjust some of them for you though." Altaria's tone started out kind-natured, but when the matter of adjusting came into play, both her voice and expression turned envious as she looked at Irina's ample busom, making the girl cover her chest and turn away with a deep blush staining her cheeks ' _Damn, how does such a young human have bigger breasts than I do?! I'm far older than she is dammit!_ '

"D-Don't stare at them…"

"I apologize; I couldn't help it. I'm just jealous of your beauty. You must have dozens of men chasing after you."

"N-No. I'm not interested in men."

"Oh, and what about the two…? Three…? With you? I have no idea what gender Cheol is; especially since the voice seems girly, but the body doesn't look all too feminine."

"For crying out- I'm a guy!"

"For real? You look like a girl." ' _What a fucking weirdo. While a person's base appearance can't be changed so easily, you can easily change between feminine and masculine. This weirdo HAS to be gender confused._ ' "Come on guys, we need to stop talking; we need to get to safety."

* * *

Nodding in acknowledgement, the group walk through the grasslands and quickly find a rather rustic one floor hut made of wood bordering a small forest

"This is your house?"

"That it is Tam! You love it?" Altaria spoke with a great bout of enthusiasm in her voice, feeling proud of the abode, at least publicly ' _You little sack of shit. You trying to insult my home?!_ '

"Well, it's better than sleeping in the cold. But Tiara, are the seven of us going to fit? It looks tiny."

"I can work something out Lucy. Let me give you a tour of the place."

Gesturing toward the door and bringing the six in, they are met with the sight of a rather small room befitting the fact only one person is living in this property; a corner holding a round pig iron pot which seemingly passes for a stove as it's placed within a fireplace, a cube shaped table and chair in the center three basic wood doors in different sections of the room

"This here is the main living room/kitchen/study. The door to the far left is the lavatory. Center; my room. To your right is I guess you could say is a guest room, though it's completely empty. Since I have to entertain guests so suddenly, the girls will stay there and the men will be in the spare room. I'll sleep out here."

"Thanks for the hospitality Altaria. But there is something I'd like to ask."

"Go ahead and ask whatever you'd like." ' _Better watch your words ex-elf freak_.'

"Are you going to be okay sleeping out here? I'm sure none of us have any problems sleeping in rough conditions. We're used to sleeping on grass. I personally would prefer that you keep your bed. We can make due with what we have here; even Lucia has no qualms camping."

' _Wow, for once I'm not completely pissed off by one of these guys' comments. That one is actually kind of sweet. In a really weird way. Especially since they look like pampered princes and princesses. Wardrobe aside._ ' "Oh no, I must insist! You all need as much comfort as you can get right now."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely Lucy."

' _Hm. This woman is not being truthful. I've been noticing subtle cues hinting internal dialogue for some time now. I imagine the others haven't noticed yet since I have always played the observer._ ' "Altaria. I'd like to talk with you outside. Lucia, all of you, try to get to sleep."

"Er, sure thing boss." Although she is feeling confused at Ivan's current demand, Irina nonetheless follows through and gestures the others to follow her lead toward the bedrooms while Ivan and Altaria go the opposite direction, outside the house.

* * *

"So what did you want to talk about Ivie?" Altaria asked this as she bent her arms behind her back, leaned forward and smiled.

"Oh drop the cutesy facade. I'm onto you."

Altaria clicked her teeth and simply exhaled as her facial expression almost instantly shifted from caring to something almost similar to apathy or even rage "Oh you have no idea how relieved I am knowing I can drop this bullshit. Having to act that cute and friendly was beginning to give me ulcers."

"Then why do it in the first place?"

"In fairness, not even I truly know why I'm extending such generosity towards your group. Consider it some random gesture of forced kindness. Remember when I said that the tower you came through loves screwing people over?" Altaria scratched the back of her head, her face now carrying an expression of uncertainty as Ivan responds with a simple nod "Well it's not just the tower. This entire world _itself_ is hell incarnate. Trust me when I say that you all are going to hate life itself after enough time passes. If you want to see it this way, think of this as me wanting to provide one day of civility before you are thrown to the pits."

"How are you so confident of this Altaria? Why do you hate anything and everything?"

Altaria took a moment's pause as she attempted to gather the words, the rain beginning to pour down from the sky, dampening their clothes and beginning to turn their white clothing transparent "It's cause I've seen that kind of life you emotionless sack of bricks."

* * *

Author's Notes:

Heh, I think I'm going to like Altaria as a character from this point on in this story. She's fun to write dialogue for because of the double-sided nature she tends to carry. But now, I want to test you guys a little with three questions. I will be revealing it all in the next chapter regardless, but I'd like to see some guess work on the questions I post below. Anyone who hits the nail on the head or at least comes close to the answer will be credited in the next chapter.

1) Considering the longevity of elves in fiction, I want you all to take a guess at how old Altaria really is.

2) Take a guess at how long she has been living in Grimgar.

3) Lastly, take a guess at what her general background is based around for the story.

If you want to help make my writing a full-time job and therefore, speed up the rate at which I am able to release content, consider supporting me on Pa /harukaerizawa


	4. Interim Epilogue - Calamity

8 months later

* * *

In a small abandoned stone palace that had sunk into the ground after an earthquake many years prior, a knight cloaked in dark blue colored armor who was the appointed leader of the group after they suffered a particular crisis which shook them all to their core, overlooked the renovated throne room from a ruined throne, a lack of decoration befitting the state of it all since they all have forsaken the idea of bringing elegance into their lives

"How fares the situation out in the field Hotei?

"Things are going along well Lord Bishamon. Benten and Jurojin are focusing their efforts on securing the western farmlands, ensuring we'll will have enough food to sustain our lives. Ebisu and Daikokuten are trying to find a mine with sufficient metal to arm our troops, and Fukurokuju is hard at work training them with what few weapons we have available." In similar style to Bishamon, Hotei wore a black suit covering her entire body, the only different color being the white high boots, her face being covered with a white and red fox mask, with only the eye pieces being exposed, showing her green eyes underneath it

"And how about you Hotei?"

"My espionage work has been fruitful. My network has crystallized in four regions and I have agents feeding me information regularly."

"Hotei, are you okay with the way we asked you to acquire information? Especially since you weren't the biggest fan of it?"

"I don't care Lord Bishamon. If it means achieving our objective, I'll do anything."

"That mindset kind of worries me. But I digress. Anyway, if things keep moving along the way we hope, we should be able to work openly in a mere three months since we've had to keep our activities quiet to prevent suspicion from brewing among our enemies."

"It will be a good day when we can act without acting in the shadows. Each one of us had to separate to fulfill our own respective missions, but if we are able to reunite, we will be near undefeatable."

"Keep working and we can-"

* * *

Whatever Bishamon was going to say, it was interrupted as an armored knight rushed into the room

"Master Bishamon! Master Hotei!"

"You have the gall to interrupt one of my personal meetings with my generals, grunt?!"

"M-My apologies sir! But I bring news from the southeast! One of our elite soldiers has fallen in battle two days ago!"

"The southeast? But Fukurokuju trained our elites personally!" Bishamon was surprised hearing that one of their better fighters out in the field was slain so recently, especially when the direction roughly correlates with the small village: Ortaga. Despite it all, the knight smirked proudly at the thought "Change of plans I suppose. Hotei, send out messengers to recall Ebisu, Daikokuten, and Fukurokuju. Knight, return to your position. Our patron's location must be hidden at all costs."

"Gladly sir, but what of Benten and Jurojin?"

"Their mission is far too important to be distracted right now. Besides, with their return, we will have our mage, ranger, and heavy fighter back into the fold. Combine that with my defensive skill and your healing, and we will have few problems. As soon as they return to us, we will take a brief respite to recover strength before departing to find our killers." With a moment's pause of speech, as Bishamon rose from his throne and began walking toward the door, cape flowing in the wind from his movement, as Hotei quickly followed suite, trailing behind him "Ready to soak our hands in blood?"

"Oh most definitely. These despicable beasts will tremble in fear once we prepare ourselves. It's a shame Benten and Jurojin won't be with us; they hate our enemies more than any of us. They'd be outright vicious in this battle. I guess Daikokuten and Ebisu will have to step up to the plate for them."

* * *

A/N:

Don't worry guys, even though I've written this epilogue chapter, it, by no means, means that I'm canceling this story. I simply wanted to convey the future of how this story will end. While it does seem like I completely changed up the cast for the story here, I challenge you to look outside the box and see if you can ascertain who is who, as I have not added nor removed a single character from those that have already been shown.

If you want to help make my writing a full-time job and therefore, speed up the rate at which I am able to release content, consider supporting me on Pa /harukaerizawa.


	5. Eternus Historia

A/N: Okay, I had to update this chapter a little bit because of clashing information I found in the light novels.

* * *

"It's cause I've seen that kind of life you emotionless sack of bricks." Altaria's words were softened by the heavy rain drenching her person, her rosy cheeks becoming flushed as she sniffled and sneezed "C...Can we take this indoors? I don't want to get sick."

"Fine."

Agreeing to the idea, the pair return inside as they find that the others have fallen asleep remarkably quickly since they hear snoring coming out of the two rooms, taking a seat at the dining table

"Okay listen jackass. This world is hell incarnate full of people that are not afraid to take everything you are and throw it into the maw of monsters. Honestly, if you survive a month, I'll be impressed."

"Quite a harsh stance on the world."

"Harsh, but it's the truth. No one in this world cares for your puny little lives. Not even I genuinely care even though I was willing to take you in."

"If you do not care about our lives, then why are you going this far? It's incomprehensible."

"I don't even know why I'm giving you this sort of false kindness. I should hate any sort of humanity with a fiery passion, that includes your motley band. I'm acting against my own interests by taking you in."

"Did you always carry such fervent hatred toward humanity?"

"Believe it or not...no. There was a time when I didn't hate anything and anyone. Sure, I didn't _love_ humanity, but I didn't despise the air they breathe. Look, I told you this world loves destroying you, and it did the same to me."

"Do you mind telling me your story? I have time."

"You know what, fine. You asked for it so don't blame me if you go insane. And if you interrupt me in any way, I'll murder you in the face." Altaria took a deep breath as she cupped her hands in front of her face, looking downward for a moment before looking back toward Ivan's emotionless poker face "It was fifty years ago. Fifty years ago I arrived in this world; of course, I have no recollection of where I was before since my memory just went...poof. I didn't come into this world here from that tower like you six, no; I actually found myself near the human's fortress city south of the Tenryu Mountains: Vitava. Since I needed to survive, I went to the city and tried looking for employment. As you can inspect of a world full of assholes, no one wanted to hire a random elf girl, even though the humans are fucking ALLIED with the elves and one of the few reasons they can maintain a presence out here in the frontier. There were fucking taverns, restaurants, and the like who outright said they needed more employees to help sort through customers and yet they declined me for bullshit reasons. The only place who was willing to give me any sort of shot was the military in the Red Moon, and the mortality rate was uncomfortably high. They provided me with ten silver to enlist in a guild to get a class and I chose Priest. I didn't have any memory of before, but I felt like I was opposed to violence so I chose a class based around healing. Continuing on with the bullshit, even though healers were relatively rare in the Red Moon and thus are usually always brought into parties, no one wanted me around so I had to fight solo. Hindsight is a real fucking bitch sometimes because if I knew the shit I'd be put through, I would've chosen a more combat capable guild and give myself more of a fighting chance." A moment paused as Altaria trained her eyes toward a staff in the corner of the room for a brief moment "Twenty years. I spent twenty years fighting day and night to try earning my keep and a position as an official trainee soldier. Even though earning it cost a mere twenty silver, the most amount of money I ever had was six. I could never prove it, but there was a concentrated effort to keep me trapped as a go-to mercenary. Especially when merchants were willing to buy materials other adventurers gathered for silver where they'd only give me copper or to take a hike to the black market where I'd get even less. I subjected myself to horrid living conditions and food that I felt was killing me more than helping to maximize money that could go toward my equipment and skills which were keeping me alive while also trying to save for my badge. I spent years trying to join a number of parties to increase efficiency, but got refused each and every time. Twenty years down the road, I got so freaking sick of the corruption that I began hating people but it went off the deep end when one of the parties I approached years prior in the field, who had become something of local celebrities, came to me with false sympathies. They said they felt bad that I was never able to gain much in the way of money so they told me of a way I could earn very easy money to finance myself, and let me tell you, the path they vouched made me so unbelievably mad that I became murderous! Those god forsaken bastards wanted me to sell my body to either them or a local brothel for base pleasure! Hearing a party that refused me tell me to sell myself into such a despicable profession in prostitution...I took the sword belonging the leader and murdered each and every one with it. It felt _so fucking cathartic_ getting to murder those filthy humans! Of course, I knew I could never return to Vitava so I fled and eventually settled down here. Ironically, when I turned my back on humanity and began to live on my own terms, I was able to attain what I could never do in that filthy city: a sizeable income where I can easily get at least five gold a month. I grow medicinal herbs in the forest that tend to sell for twenty silver a piece and I have large gardens nearby where I grow all of my own food. And if you plan to ask, I still hate the fucking people in this world, especially when they tried slut-shaming me, but I can maintain some business professionalism with people. I have a contact with a trading post who comes by twice a month to collect what I gather and gives me a fair price for it. Whenever I have need of something from the outside world, he typically is my way to acquire it. The bastard never asks questions which I like so he doesn't know my history, he only cares about money so we keep a mutual relationship. I've been here, living free from the twisted corruption of humanity, for thirty years."

Listening to her story with laser focus and after getting permission to speak, Ivan let his posture soften since he had kept himself still to listen to Altaria's story "That is a horrible life no living being should ever be subjected to. But I must admit you are unbelievably brave and strong for having put up with it for such a long time. That requires a truly indomitable will few are blessed with. Trust me when I say not even I have such powerful strength of character to resist the urge to kill."

"Thanks...I think? Not going to lie Ivan, it feels a little good talking about this. My feelings toward humans isn't going to change, but I might be able to try worming in something for you since you seem cynical like me."

"I am not cynical witch. I am simply a realist. The people who wronged you that severely deserved to die."

"Haha, keep telling yourself that you freak of nature."

"Wait, there is something I want to ask. You said you had clothes from your old traveling companions. But you now say you were solo. Did you-?"

"Strip the corpses of the people I killed? Hell yeah. I took their weapons, armor, clothes, everything and put it in a horse-driven cart I was able to request down the road. As much as I hated them, I for one didn't want them to suffer from the No Life King's curse so I did the rites necessary to make sure they do not return as the undead."

"The No Life King?"

"Yep. His curse infected the entire continent. If you aren't cremated when you die, you become one of his risen minions within the span of a few days."

"What a horrible fate."

"You're telling me. Have to say, you're quite the talker when you give off the impression that you don't do it much."

"Words lose strength when expressed. I prefer keeping it to a minimal and let my actions speak for me."

"Interesting mindset. I've never met anyone like that before as far as I know, and according to my old mentor, I am 812 years old right now. But you should really go join your friends and get some sleep. You have a big day ahead of yourselves."

"Noted. See you in the morning Altaria."

Seeing Ivan walk to the guest room where Cheol and Jotam are sleeping, Altaria is once again left by her lonesome

"Why did I tell him about the No Life King?! I could've left that part out! I mean…" Altaria groaned in irritation at this carelessness on her part "This is not good. These humans may end up jeopardizing the mission I've taken up ten years ago. Especially if they chip away at my hatred for the people in this world. I...I need to do this." With a deep sigh, she walked toward a corner of the room where she keeps a storage chest, the contents being a number of clothes taken from the adventurers she killed many years prior, some light pieces of armor, and even some dulled weapons "These weapons are garbage; I suppose the armor can be salvaged to an extent, and I just need to tailor the clothes to fit these six. I think I can make this work. I just have to work through the night. _Fun_."


	6. Test of Character

When morning came for the group, they found Altaria hard at work in the main room about to exit the house with a few short swords in hand, her facial expression shifting into her energetic facade that only Ivan knows about because of his confrontation the night before.

"Good morning darlings. You sleep well?"

"Well enough. Thank you for the hospitality Altaria."

"Aw don't even mention it Lucy! It was the least I could do!"

"What are you doing with those swords?" Aria was quick to ask the question of why she was carrying the dulled swords in her hand.

"Oh yeah. I was going to try sharpening them and let y'all have them so you have something to defend yourself with until you can get something proper, but since you woke up so early...ah shoot, I was hoping to have an extra couple of hours to do it. Sorry. Adjusting the clothes took longer than I thought." Altaria set the swords down on the table and picked up a neatly folded pile of clothes "Here you go my lovelies. They may not be perfect fits, but I've done the best I can considering the circumstances. Now, I might have made some of them too big, but better big than small right?"

"There's a limit to that extent Altaria, but generally, I would say yes."

"I agree with Jotam on this one. Considering my body's...shape, I always need a specific size for my clothes." Irina was apprehensive talking about the latter, her eyes turned downward.

' _Assholes. I spent hours readjusting these clothes! My hands were freaking bloodied from the needle pricking me so much! I had to use healing magic each time I finished a set!_ ' "I'll lay out the clothes here for you. If you'll excuse me, I want to hurry and try getting some food for your trek to the city."

"Altaria, are those weapons usable in the state they're in?" Aria stopped Altaria before she was able to exit the building, asking the question on her mind.

"Erm...kinda? I wouldn't recommend these pieces of junk for any serious fighting but they're not unusable. If you wouldn't mind waiting...maybe six hours? I can get them ready for battle."

"No thank you. We can make due with this until we get something not thirty years old. Even if you sharpen the blade, its durability is most certainly shot after so much time. If anything, sharpening them would make them too dangerous for use."

"Well, okay then Jotam. I'll leave the swords here in this barrel. Go get changed and I'll try to put together some provisions for you all." Putting the weapons in a safe place, Altaria left the house, walking toward the forest, the distance from people allowing her to speak freely "WHY in all seven hells am I going this far to help people?! I should hate these humans with a passion bordering the abnormal! This world screwed me in ways that are just plain unforgivable, but…" Altaria outright screamed in base rage, her voice slowly losing volume, her thoughts going back to when she had first entered Grimgar, back when she hadn't lost faith in people, a sad frown on her face "I wasn't always this wicked. I genuinely cared about people at one point. If these humans met me back then, I would've been overwhelmingly kind to them. For real. I wouldn't be faking it like I am." Arriving at one of her gardens, Altaria began picking fruits from the bushes, putting them in a wicker basket, briefly stopping when she notices her own shadow begin to resonate, oh so slightly shaking as if it were sentient "Don't worry. I won't let anything stop my mission. I'm beyond salvation after all."

* * *

Finishing her preparations, she returned to her house, stopping as she sees the group outside testing the weapons' weight through various swings

"Heh, you all are some real eager beavers. Testing the weapons already? Impressive. What do you think?"

"It'll work; thanks Altaria. By the way, do you think we'd able to borrow some money to buy equipment?"

"Mmm, not a good idea darlings. There are bandits who operate in this area. If they see travelers with coin, they're not going to hesitate in trying to rob you. I could provide maybe...three to five silver for weapons when you reach the city, but the idea is still very risky."

"Okay, so an immediate request is out of the question. What about later down the road?"

"Mmm…I'm still not sure Lucy." Altaria frowned as she racked her mind, coming to a decision relatively quick "Tell you what. Try to earn official badges from the Crimson Moon and we can discuss long-term financial backing then. I just don't want to waste coin buying high-end equipment only to have the users die in the first fight. Even then, I'm going to be a little hesitant. Look, this world is unforgiving. Make yourselves strong enough to overcome the dark parts of this world."

Silently passing the wicker basket to Ivan, Altaria entered the house and approached a small hidden chest filled to the brim with silver and gold pieces, taking out five silver from her collection "Why am I wasting money I spent so much effort earning on such a fruitless endeavor? I mean...sooner or later, I'm going to need to find a way to the Kingdom of Ishmael, wherever that is. I've been buying maps for the better part of the last couple of years to find this kingdom for my-our mission. Please...crystalize my resolve so I do not waver. Crystalize my resolve and I assure you. You will be revived...Undying King."

After seeing her shadow twist and turn, its presence enveloping Altaria for a brief moment before realigning to fit Altaria's natural form, she took the money in hand, exiting the house

"Okay, here's a little bit of money. Get some good weapons and armor with it. It'll keep you alive. Best of luck."

"Thank you Altaria. Take care of yourself. Hope we meet again." Aria responded with a proud smile, the group turning heel to leave the area, leaving Altaria by her lonesome yet again.

As soon as she was sure she was alone, Altaria sighed and entered her home once again, glad to have privacy to no longer have to maintain her facade "FINALLY! I can finally quit being so FREAKING NICE! I was so _freaking_ sick of having to do that! Especially to that brat. Gods, I hate kids. Now I can quit the samaritan act and focus on what's important."

* * *

Leaving the relative safety of Altaria's residence, the group of six take to walking across the fields in the direction of Alterna, though the advent of fifteen armed fighters did little to reassure them, especially when they began to surround the group, the six bunching together, backs to each other

' _Looks like these are the bandits Altaria warned us about. Lucia, while we keep these guys distracted, you hurry to town and try summoning the town watch or something of the sort. Everyone, we should take this chance to 'acquire' their armaments and use them for ourselves. Let's avoid killing them if at all possible._ '

' _Aria, you want a sword? I'm more confident in hand-to-hand combat._ '

' _No Ivan. We're all staying armed. Besides, I don't share your enthusiasm with me being able to handle dual weapons. For all intent and purposes, I'm assuming we can die here in Grimgar. No careless risks, understood?_ '

' _Got it Aria. These weapons are crap, but something's better than nothing._ '

"Looks like we've got a band of travelers on our hands. Got some real beauties there. I imagine we'd get ten gold a head if we find the right client."

' _Oh, I want to kill these fuckers so fucking badly right now! It'd be one thing if they wanted to rob us, but they're practically implying they want to sell you three into slavery!_ ' Even though Jotam was always the one among them to lose their temper at the drop of a hat, he had every right to be outright _furious_ at what he is hearing from the group, carefully whispering to the group, excluding Lucia; whom would've been their first introduction to what people are like in Grimgar if they hadn't met Altaria. A truly bad start to their perceptions.

' _I'm pissed too Jotam, but remember to keep to the plan._ '

' _I know Cheol. I'm not stupid. Lucia, as soon as we jump these bastards, RUN. There's no way they'll anticipate us being proactive in retaliation._ '

' _O-Okay. But please stay alive everyone. I don't want any of you dying._ '

' _You insult us by merely saying that Lucia! Do you have so little faith in us?_ '

' _N-No. That's not what I-_ '

' _Enough. On three._ ' Ivan was quick to silence conversation as he and the others readied themselves while maintaining an illusion of fright.

* * *

After counting down from three, carefully passing their packs to Lucia, Ivan led the charge, meeting one of the bandits face first, driving his fist into the gut, giving him the chance to switch his dull sword with a better quality one, the others dashing in their respective directions and drew their dulled weapons in readiness to fight. To the right, Jotam took off into a run, twisting his body just enough to launch himself into a spin jump, knocking the three in his direction to their backs, just as quickly driving his elbows into their stomachs, making them drop their weapons; swiftly taking one for himself and keeping the remaining two for Cheol and Irina. Flanking left, Aria took into a somersault, landing on top of one of the thugs looking down smugly

"Can't touch me mud for brains!"

Unlike the other three, Cheol and Irina kept alert, carefully watching their opponents' moves to ensure they don't get into danger since they lack more specialized melee combat experience like their companions. Back in Elder Tale, their classes were Guardian, Cossack, Swashbuckler, Cleric, Exorcist, and Taoshi. Half were meant to be close-range fighters, Lucia built her exorcist class to fit a mid-range archer slash melee combatant and the others were typically strict support in a healer and support, though they had some degree of practice back during their conflicts against Plant Hwayden. And with a distraction made, Lucia made a run for it in the direction of Alterna; the five remaining members reunited, armed with fresh weapons they could actually use in battle

"Okay, now that Lucia's gone; don't be afraid to go all out guys. We need to set an example to these slavers. We're not going to allow such rampant evil to go undeterred." Just to emphasize how serious Jotam was being right now, no longer having to restrain himself since Lucia is not around, Jotam turned to face his companions with one more thing on his mind "I don't care if people call me a knight templar. If this world is as unforgiving as we've heard, we mustn't hesitate. Kill them all."

"I'm nervous going all the way Jotam, but in this foreign world, it's bigger fish eating smaller fish. Kill or be killed." Aria paused for only a moment, knowing what her response is before either her mind or heart came to a decision "I'm with you." Aria frowned at the idea of killing the bandits, but ultimately complied with the order from Jotam, knowing there is some cold logic to his decision. Survival of the fittest oft requires making choices that go against one's moral character in exchange for what allows the individual to survive. Hearing this made Aria realize just why Jotam had Lucia run toward Alterna while the others stayed and fight: He didn't want a child's hands stained with blood. Even when the group had only been formed a grand total of six months prior, composed of pairs scattered from three different servers, having no interaction beforehand, the fact Jotam wanted to protect Lucia's innocence as much as possible warmed Aria's heart, making her smile an invisible smile since she has to focus on maintaining awareness to the immediate grim reality.

Much like Aria, the others carried apprehension but nodded in acknowledgement as they gripped their swords in tight stances as they charged into battle, recognizing a formation to take from the signal Ivan gave, it being one of several they had formulated during their time in Yamato, their time fighting against Plant Hwayden in the Ninetails Dominion. In relatively short time, they were able to kill the bandits, each kill making their stomachs churn in utter horror at what their bodies are doing: killing people without the smallest hint of hesitation. When the battle ended, the bandits' bodies sprawn out around them, their own bodies having suffered some injury since they lack their weapons and armor, a thought emerged from Ivan

"Guys, we need to send someone to Altaria quickly. These bandits need to be cremated."

"What? Absolutely not! Let these bastards rot! They wanted to sell me, Aria, and Lucia into slavery!"

"Irina, there's a curse on this land. If these men are not cremated, they will rise as the undead in only a few short days. They are scum of the land yes, but do they truly deserve to be revived as mindless undead?"

"Ivan has a bit of a point. Being a mindless skeleton is not a way I'd want anyone to go."

"I'm surprised to hear this from you Jotam, especially since you were so gung-ho on killing them. I'll go see Altaria real quick and see if I can get her to teach me how to do the necessary cremation techniques. Go find Lucia and let her know we're all safe."

* * *

Seeing Irina double back to Altaria's house, the remaining members began walking toward the city in the distance

"Are you guys doing alright?"

"Kinda Jotam. I just...I feel wheezy over how I killed people. I mean...it's terrifying."

"Me too Cheol. Even though these jerks wanted to sell me, Irina, and Lucia into slavery and all, a part of me can't stand what I just did. Ivan, you okay?"

"Shaken, but yes. Killing people has been something of a moral barrier for me, but now that has been shattered. I am just relieved Lucia was spared."

"You and me both Ivan. I don't want Lucia's innocence to be destroyed like this. It should be a gradual change of mind as she eases into adulthood. She's young, naive, she doesn't know where to draw the line half the time. I always wanted to just keep her from harm to the best of my ability. There were a lot of jerks back in the Western European server so I inducted her into Dream Legion to give her some peace of mind. I did that a lot."

"Oh yeah, you mentioned this I think. You were a nurse back in...back in...it's on the tip of my tongue but I can't remember the name. I feel like I should know since you told us, but it's...not in my memory. Erm, sorry Aria." Jotam spoke up quick, his eyes closed in irritation as he tried to recall memories of their conversations in the Yamato server.

"No worries but...I-I can't remember either. It's blank. I mean; I don't think it really matters at this moment since we need to focus on our present and future, but when things slow down a bit...yeah, we need to talk about what came before the Apocalypse. To the best of our ability anyway. I mean, we talked about some place different during our conflict against Hwayden. It being our home; not Theldesia, so we weren't born in that world. It was...whatever was before Elder Tale."

"I wonder if we have family somewhere in that world we can't remember?"

Hearing Cheol ask this question immediately squashed any desire to continue talking since it was something that genuinely hit home for them all.

* * *

A/N: Regarding the fight scene between the party and the bandits: I originally planned on making the scene more descriptive but it got pretty gruesome, to the point where I was starting to get squeamish trying to read through it. Honestly, if I went any further, I was afraid I was going to give myself nightmares, so I canned it, hereby toning it down. Even if I rated this story as M, I don't want to write something on a scale you'd expect from a horror flick. Not my cup of tea.


End file.
